Shippou's Wish
by closetconspiracy
Summary: Shippou uses the Shikon jewel to make the last wish before the jewel is destroyed.


It seems like everyone always considers what will be done with the jewel at the end, and what Inuyasha or Kagome would want to do with it, but what would happen if Shippou used the jewel to make the final wish before it was destroyed? This just came to me, and I had to see where it led. Just a reminder, as much as I love Inuyasha, I don't own any part of it in any way, shape, or form. It all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

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SHIPPOU'S WISH

Shippou looked at the forest surrounding him.

He blamed them. All of them. Even the hanyou. All of them had fallen in love, and left him with that human impression.

He was a demon for the gods' sake! They weren't supposed to feel love. That was what he had heard repeatedly, over and over since the end of Naraku's war. Naraku had lost, yes, but demons, powerful demons, still reigned, and Sesshomaru had finally built up his empire. And the dog-demons were running rampant, those that had broken ties from Sesshomaru and still survived. And that's what Shippou had known for the past twenty-five years.

The last he had heard, Inuyasha was teaching his three pups how to use their claws, and Kagome was trying to calm them down and teach them some manners whenever their father took to hiding in the trees. And Sango was busy slaying some of those renegade dog-demons now that her and Miroku's kids were old enough to watch themselves, with the oldest being close to ten years old. Shippou smirked as he stood up and started walking deeper into the forest. Miroku was well on his way to his wish, with six kids, and Shippou could just imagine the look on his face when Sango would get up and leave without him, leaving him with his brood for a mission with a demon on her own.

Despite everything, Shippou had been unable to let go completely, and he still checked up on them from time to time. But he never said hi, never ventured closer than necessary. He knew Inuyasha had sensed his presence a few times, from the way the hanyou had stiffened and his ears had twitched. But he hadn't done anything more. And Shippou was satisfied. If the hanyou told his mate and friends that Shippou was still around, still keeping an eye on them and staying close, that was their business. Not his. Not unless they started chasing after him.

But he didn't give them any reason to. Not after the end of the war. He kept to himself, skirting human villages and demons strong-holds alike. After all those years building up a family with those humans and half-demon, he couldn't bear to see another family torn apart, especially if it was his own again.

There was only once, for a time last spring, when he had let his guard down. He hadn't expected it, not after what he'd done. But she'd been there, Mizuki, and he had been unable to keep from going to her, dropping to his knees before her once again, a silent plea for forgiveness. And he had been speechless when she hadn't run away, hadn't stuck her tongue out at him and stormed off.

Instead, she'd knelt down in front of him, titled his head up and wiped his tears away.

But that hadn't lasted. It was never meant to. There was an attack, by some renegade dog-demons, and Shippou had been away, trying to find a healer for Mizuki. She was sick, had a cold or something, and she had his pups inside her. He thought about going for Kagome, was desperate enough to do so, when he smelt the fear and the blood. He'd rushed back, only to find Mizuki dying, the dog-demons leaving the fox-demon's den.

The next thing Shippou remembered was rushing to Mizuki, his body covered in dog-demon blood. He could do nothing but hold her as she died, taking his pups with her. It was then that he realized the full extent of what he had done all those years ago, and just how much they still didn't understand. And the anger came.

They had been shocked, all of them, had tried to talk him out of it, but he had been a stubborn child, and he had refused to listen. And so he had made his wish, that Kagome and Sango and Miroku would live as long as Inuyasha and him, and any other demon, and their pups if they had any would be able to live long too. He didn't want his family to die, not after they had pulled through everything and defeated Naraku.

But it had died. It had then, and it had again with Mizuki.

And holding Mizuki's lifeless body in his arms, he felt rage boil within him. Inuyasha should be thanking him, for giving the hanyou's mate long life, and his friends long life as well. They would never have to see their mates die so young in their arms, never have to let their loved ones slip into darkness while they lived on, too many years stretching ahead of him.

Shippou had laid Mizuki in a grave under the Cherry Blossom tree, remembering the whole time the first time he had held her naked in his arms, the same day she had run from her village, surprising him as she hurled herself into his arms, her scent elated when he realized she meant to stay for good that time.

For a year and half, those memories still plagued him, and as Shippou trekked through the forest, the smell of humans growing stronger to his senses, he remembered Mizuki's eyes boring into his as she took his hand and set it over her stomach to feel the slight bulge in her abdomen. He remembered curling against Kagome's stomach as they camped around a crackling fire, felt Inuyasha's fist on the top of his head, hard enough to bruise but not hard enough to cause real damage, saw Miroku's protective stance in front of him as they battled demons, heard Sango's laugh as she snickered at one of his antics.

Shippou stopped dead in the forest. The scent of humans was stronger now, and with that came the smell of his old family. Twenty-five years. It had been a long time, even for a demon like him. But he had spent his childhood with them, growing up, learning from them. Then he had made a wish for them, one that not only had destroyed the jewel shard but had given them long life.

But he had smelled the sadness on them, even as they fell into the routine of a long life, and Inuyasha had finally given in to his emotions and embraced Kagome without a second thought when they were walking back to Kaede's village after a minor run in with a demon. And then Shippou knew that they couldn't imagine the life of a demon, and he had fled, without thinking almost, not wanting resentment to enter their faces, their scents. And he hadn't seen them since, except for the sneaking peaks through the treetops and over high demon-hunter fences.

But they didn't understand, not yet. Not what a short life could do to you, or to a mate, not to a demon like Shippou. He couldn't have born it if they had all died, leaving him behind. Even Inuyasha would have died before Shippou, for he was only half-demon after all. And now Inuyasha didn't have to see his mate die before him either. But they didn't understand. Not yet, and Shippou didn't understand how that could be.

And even worse, they were human. They could love. And he, growing up with them surrounding him, their love enveloping him, had only learned to love as well. And it hurt, and he couldn't forgive them for it.

Shippou took a step back, turned and leapt up into the trees, jumping among the branches as Inuyasha had always done, trying to escape the scent of monk and taijiya and hanyou and strange priestess, even as they still clung to his memory.


End file.
